It was a long but rewarding day for the Dawson County varsity softball team Saturday as the Lady Tigers battled the summer before coming away with a 3-0 record and a championship at the Lanier Point Tournament.

"What a long day for us," said Coach Jimmy Pruett. "But at the end we came away with three wins and a trophy."

Offensively Dawson County scored 34 runs on 38 hits to win their flight. The Lady Tigers defeated West Hall, 13-0, to open the morning.

Pruett's team had to battle from behind to defeat Flowery Branch, 7-6, in extra innings. The nightcap saw DCHS defeat Rabun County, 14-1.

"I thought we hit the ball hard. Our pitching was outstanding. Joy Lewis did a tremendous job of throwing strikes and for the most part our defense made the plays," Pruett said.

In the first game of the day Dawson County scored 9 first inning runs to run away with a three and a half inning run rule against West Hall.

Emily Hunsucker led the way offensively going 3-for-3 with three runs, three RBI's, a double, and a triple.

Lewis, Sydney McGinnis, and Samantha Keeney also had a multiple hit game with each going 2-for-2. Lewis had three RBI's. McGinnis scored two runs with a double.

Also picking up hits were Katelynn Simpson and Brittany Griggs.

Pitchers Lewis and Tabitha Morrison combined for a no-hitter. Lewis picked up the win from the mound.

Saturday's second game was one of the most exciting games of the tournament.

Trailing 5-3 with two outs in the final inning to Flowery Branch, things looked gloomy for Dawson County. With one out Tabitha Morrison reached first base on a single. A pop-up to the catcher made it two outs.

Simpson stood at the plate with Dawson County's last chance. The calm and cool Lady Tiger connected on a fastball and hit a mammoth home run to left center to tie the game at 5-5 and send the contest into extra innings.

It looked gloomy in the eighth inning as the Lady Falcons pushed across a run to go ahead 6-5.

But the Lady Tigers rebounded to win the game on a sacrifice fly by Lewis to right field scoring Sydney McGinnis for the game-winning run to take the 7-6 win.

"Our players fought to come from behind, what a big win for us," Pruett said. "That was a huge home run by (Simpson). We just never gave up."

Hunsucker had a huge game with a 4-for-4 performance with a run, RBI, and a double.

Natalie Glass, Tabitha Morrison, and Simpson had multiple-hit games.

Lewis picked up the win going eight innings with four strikeouts.

The Lady Tiger bats were still hot in the final game of the tournament. Dawson County pounded out six hits and had four different players to get hit by a pitch to score seven runs in the opening inning.

Dawson County continued the offensive onslaught with four runs in the third and three more runs in the fourth for the 14-1 win over Rabun County.

The Lady Tigers finished with thirteen hits. Nine different players had hits which included: Hunsucker, Glass, Lewis, Morrison, Brooke Wende, Simpson, Anela Melton, McGinnis, and Hannah McConnell.

Lewis recorded her third win from the mound striking out two Rabun County batters. She only gave up two hits in the game.

Hunsucker was the offensive star for Dawson County collecting nine hits on ten at-bats for a .900 batting average. The Lady Tiger also had 5 RBI's, 3 doubles, 6 runs, and a triple in the tournament.

Pruett's team will begin Region 7-AAA play this week at home. Scores were available for Tuesday's game as of press time.

Thursday the Lady Tigers will see region play at Lumpkin County. First pitch will be at 5:55 p.m.